Motorhome Chapter Spotlight | Family Motor Coach Association

Members of this Northeast Area chapter have fun while supporting charitable causes.

Chapter Spotlight
By Beth King, F285711
November 2009

The Yankee Travelers chapter is a large group — with more than 250 member families — but it feels like one big family. We have something for everyone when we get together. Our members range from young families with children all the way to retirees.

Our scope is the central New England area. We have members from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. From April through October we hold approximately eight weekend rallies in the area, plus we join with RVers in the Cape Codders and Northeastern chapters to hold huge tri-chapter rallies. One of the tri-rallies is an annual Fourth of July extravaganza at Scusset Beach in Massachusetts, which lasts more than a week.

Our Labor Day chapter rally at Beach Acres Campground in Wells, Maine, is our showcase event. We have a game night; a craft fair; and a talent show in which everyone, including the kids, is involved.

Another topic at every rally is food. It has become a chapter tradition to have a baking contest at the Wells rally. This year we baked cookies. At every rally the men in our chapter have such a good time cooking meals. Dressed in their chef hats and big matching aprons, they give us ladies a break by cooking a full breakfast every morning, and dinner in the evening.

Our recent outgoing president, Bob Townsend, established a chapter charity and relief fund during his four years in office, and it's something we are continuing. We try to add to it at most rallies, even if it's just through a 50-50 raffle. During the past few years we have helped causes such as juvenile diabetes and supported a veterans hospital with the "Vettes To Vets" event (www.vettestovets.org).

This year we also helped support a breast cancer fundraising campaign called "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" at our third annual rally at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine. This has become a favorite rally, because chapter member Dan Meservey races in the Pro-4 Modified division. We get to camp right in the raceway parking lot for the race weekend.

All of the members agreed to increase the rally fee so that we could give a donation of $10 per coach. This enabled us to contribute $320 to fight breast cancer. We followed this up the next morning with 30 chapter members donating $10 each to join a walk-a-thon at the racetrack.

We would make you feel welcome if you would like to join our big family. Chapter dues are $15 per coach and include bimonthly newsletters. We have a great Web site, www.yankeetravelers.com, where you can see photos and videos of our activities and learn more about us. For more information, contact FMCA's Chapter Services Department at (513) 474-3622, (800) 543-3622;

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